Milan Dubovský’s comic opera Three Roosters was composed to a Slovak libretto by Miroslav Horňák, loosely based on Honoré de Balzac’s satirical short story La Belle Impéria. This intimate story with a profound moral dimension raises questions of guilt and responsibility that transcend the specific situation and take on a timeless quality. Dubovský builds a dense, dramatic structure in which restrained yet finely expressive musical language is joined with the intense psychology of the characters. Contrasting rhythms, sharp expressive turns and lyrical moments carry both comedy and emotional truth. Three Roosters is more than a musical narration of a story; it is a suggestive operatic metaphor of human weakness and the consequences of personal choices, which remains relevant to contemporary audiences.